


The Surface

by RufflinHawkit



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Exploration, Gen, Mystery, The Surface, crab
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 12:51:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18604879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RufflinHawkit/pseuds/RufflinHawkit
Summary: A group of scientists hellbent on discovering the surface of the water find more than they originally bargained for...





	The Surface

The vast majority of the ocean remains unexplored. Though our technology has advanced far beyond anything our ancestors ever imagined, there remain barriers we find insurmountable. Until recently, no Saluteen had ever seen the surface, much less manage to breach it. Those who attempt to climb to such a height come back with reports of blinding light and crippling elevation sickness.

When I and my fellow surface-dreamers began our ascent, we wanted to do two things: prove that such a climb was possible, and come back with proof of the surface.

We did so much more.

In hopes of inspiring others to follow in our footsteps and continue the journey we started, I publish my unedited journal entries. Everything within them is the truth, but if you wish to disprove what I have written, then I invite you to prove me wrong.

Sincerely,

Fhaornik the Lesser.

**22nd Eruption, Third Octosphere**

Today, we begin our ascent. Being the most experienced in ascension trips, I spend the day preparing to lead a team of three other scientists. Our team consists of me, Elethan, a fellow ascender, Ayduin, a biologist who wishes to see how animals adapt to life in the shallows, and Aliak, a ficieologist determined to prove once and for all that the surface does, in fact, exist. We have calculated - taking into mind frequent rests to adjust to the difference in water pressure, the weight of our supplies, and so on - that the ascent will take roughly fifteen eruptions. I will continue to record our journey when needed in case we may need to look back upon this venture in the future.

Until then.

**30th Eruption, Third Octosphere**

Our ascent has been, thus far, uneventful. When needed, we dig a shallow cave into the mountain to rest. Ayduin has been eagerly writing down the variety in creatures we have seen along the way, and Aliak chitters nonstop theories regarding the surface. Ficieology is a new field, only supported by calculations and readings from computers only recently invented, and this would cause a revolution in their field. Elethan and I humor them as much we can, though admittedly much of what they say goes over our shells.

**33rd Eruption, Third Octosphere**

We never knew how dark our home was until we saw seen the light. For hours on end a blinding light overwhelms us, followed by an equal amount of time in the dark. It grows warmer the farther we go, and some days we have to dig holes just to rest in to keep from overheating. Massive varieties of fish school in the water, and primitive crustaceans of all kinds feed on the tumorous growths on the side of the mountain. They were almost stone-like, but clearly living. As thrilled as Ayduin is to discover what they have dubbed “living stone”, they seem to suffer from the heat worse than the rest of us. Aliak is the only one who seems happy about the it, eager to see what causes it. There should be no lava above the surface - otherwise, it would sink to the ocean floor. Maybe there is more to the surface than we thought.

**35th Eruption, Third Octosphere.**

The light grows unbearable, bringing with it a heat that leaves us nearly paralyzed. We try to stay out of the light as best we can, spending most of it fluttering our gills until it is replaced by what we had originally perceived as darkness. As it so turns out, there is light at all times, but the brighter one is replaced by a darker, muted light roughly every eruption . At this point, we can see that there is a source to the light in the rough shape of a sphere. It takes roughly one eruption to pass over the surface, followed by a whitish blue sphere. We have taken to climbing only when the blue sphere is out, as the temperature is far more bearable then. Aliak is still delighted, but we worry that Ayduin may need to be left behind. They insist that they are okay, but the rest of us know they only wish to continue to the discovery of massive amounts of rock-like creatures that house and feed many varieties of fish, crustaceans, and other things we have never seen before.

In any case, I hope we reach the surface soon, lest the heat cooks us alive.

**40th Eruption, Third Octosphere.**

We reach the top of the Mountain a full five eruptions longer than our initial estimate. The surface above distracts us from our exhaustion, however. We could see it bob and wave above us, the light of the blue-white sphere shining through in rays. It was hypnotizing. Aliak explained that it was due to the currents above the surface interacting with the water. We didn’t understand, but kept our questions to ourselves. If we could find another mountain to scale, we could experience it firstclaw within the hour. We noted that there were short cliffs all around us, and made our way to one that appeared to reach far higher than the others in hope of scaling it - or at least get high enough to be able to swim to the surface.

We get to the cliff and scale it in barely any time at all. At the top we encountered a metallic barrier, clearly constructed, to which Elathan commented that it wasn’t a very effective barrier. It was only a few segments high, with plenty of rooms within the bars for small creatures to fit through. Ayduin agreed, though speculated that it could have instead been to act as a marker for the edge of this cliff rather than an actual barrier.

That, however, did not hold our attention for long - just beyond the barrier, there stood a massive, light green sculpture atop a great podium covered in the living-stone growths. Much of it was covered in algae, the living-stone slowly creeping up its body, but we could still make out a general shape. It was some kind of tall creature, seemingly draped in kelp fabric. We could make out only two limbs - one holding some sort of box close to its torso, and another raising a bright red coral so high it grazed the surface. Its face was unlike anything we had ever seen - like a fish’s, but flattened beyond any recognition. It had forwards facing eyes and an incredibly tiny mouth, features that Ayduin noted weren’t typical of any creature he had ever seen before. The comment silenced us.

Aliak was the first to break the silence; “look”, and she stretched out a claw. Our eyes shifted over, and in the distance we saw a cliffscape adorned with massive, rectangular structures that looked not too unlike buildings. The taste of iron was nearly suffocating.

I writw this now as we take shelter to hide from the light. We plan to return to the deep as soon as we can and report our findings. We did not find any living creatures that followed the shape of the green statue, but felt too unprepared to approach what we could only assume was a distant city.

We came up here to answer questions that have plagued Saluteen civilization since the dawn of our race, but I fear we have instead created a thousand more.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was originally written as an entry to a short story (1k word maximum) contest with the theme of 'a character-driven underwater discovery'. I have since refined it and wanted to share it. It may not be as gripping as it could be, but I like how it turned out!


End file.
